Happy Little Stampers: Tropical

September is creeping up on us, especially in Australia, where the new month has begun! And with it, a new challenge at Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge. Our optional theme this month is TROPICAL. As temperatures start to cool here where I am, my thoughts turned to a tropical desert isle: 

To start, I used the negative of a circle mask and used yellow watercolour powders to create my tropical sun. Once it was dry, I covered the sun with the circle and used blue watercolour powder to create the rest of the background, moving it around with a wide brush to get the look I wanted. For the island, I coloured directly on the stamp with Zig markers, misted it lightly with water, and stamped it on watercolour paper. After it was dry, I fussy cut the image and popped it up on the background. 

So much tropical inspiration from my design teammates! Be sure to visit the Happy Little Stampers blog for more inspiration, and then join us! 

Supplies: Canson watercolour paper, Recollections Palm Trees stamp, Zig watercolour markers, Magenta Nuance watercolour powders, foam tape

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Seize the Birthday: Squares

I can't believe it's the last Thursday in August. :( I'm a summer girl in case you can't tell. But at least there's a new Seize the Birthday!

We have a brand new topping for you: SQUARE cards. As always, the topping is optional, we love to see any new birthday card creations in our link-up! 

I don't make a lot of square cards. It annoys me that square envelopes require extra postage (in Canada). And I think they look a bit funny in rectangular envelopes. Faced with making a square card, though, I thought using a Concord & 9th turnabout stamp would be perfect. 

I used the everyday bouquet turnabout in four shades of purple on cream cardstock. I thought the circular sentiment went well with the shape of the image. It's popped up on a thin piece of foam tape, and then the main panel is mounted on a pale mauve card base. 

Being the end of the month, there's an Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp, so I will enter this card there. 
I hope you enjoy the last few days of August, and find some time to play along with us! For more inspiration, be sure to see all the beautiful cards the design team has created as well as our current surprise party guest, Su! 

Supplies: Stampin' Up very vanilla & Hero Arts mauve layering cardstock, Concord & 9th everyday bouquet turnabout & Inkadinkado happy birthday stamps, MFT wild wisteria, pure plum, purple rain & eggplant inks, Spellbinders circle die, foam tape

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The Snarky Sisters are Violent

Do you not LOVE this week's challenge badge? And yes, the Snarky Sisters are going there for challenge #142, V is for VIOLENT. 

I am generally a peaceful person, so I wasn't sure at first what I might find in my collection that would suit this theme. But of course I managed to find just the right sentiment: 

To start, I found my largest wine glass stamp and stamped it repeatedly before embossing it in - what else - champagne embossing powder. Because yes, sometimes I base my design choices on name alone. :D I then watercolored them in a rainbow of shades as well as splattering some metallic silver and gold watercolour on the panel, just to add a little more fun to the background. The font of the sentiment has a little bit of a shadow on the letters, so when embossed it in white, it almost seems a little blurry. With that many wine glasses, seems appropriate. 

Each of the sisters has brought her own interpretation to our latest theme, and so has our current Queen of Snark and Guest Designer, Wendy. Once you've checked out all the mayhem, I hope you'll play along! 

Supplies: Stampin' Up basic black cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, MFT Christmas Cocktails & Hampton Art LOL Wine Theme stamps, Versafine onyx black & Colorbox frost white inks, Wow vintage champagne & bright white embossing powders, Zig watercolour markers, Gansai Tambai metallic watercolour paints, Tim Holtz/Sizzix stacked deckle dies, foam tape

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Seize the Birthday: Butterflies

It time for another Seize the Birthday Thursday! We had lots of gorgeous floral creations for our last challenge (and of course some fine, flowerless "anything goes" entries) and I think our new topping will be popular, too. 

It's BUTTERFLIES! Another theme perfect for summer. Of course, if you have a birthday card you've created without them, we'd love you to link that up, too. 

Only one card from me for today's topping, but the butterfly is certainly front and centre: 

I used a pretty Technique Tuesday border die to both add a butterfly and cut off part of the front of my card base. If the sponged blue panel seems vaguely familiar, it was created at the same time as I made this Seize the Birthday card. This panel uses Versamark as a subtle resist to the sponged inks, and adds the muted florals to the base. The only other stamping is the embossed sentiment. Definitely a clean and simple card, so I'm adding this to the current CAS Addicted to Stamps and More challenge. 

Beautiful butterfly creations abound on the Seize the Birthday blog, from my design teammates and our current surprise party guest, Su! I hope you'll make a birthday card and join the party! 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Essentials by Ellen Wish Big & Unity (grab bag) stamps, Versamark, Brilliance Mediterranean blue & mermaid lagoon, salty ocean, blueprint sketch & chipped sapphire distress ink, Wow clear embossing powder, Technique Tuesday butterfly on the border die

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Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers: RIP

Don't worry! We're not really announcing the death of The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers. But it is time for a new challenge, and we have chosen R is for RIP! 

I decided I wanted to make a card with ripped paper, and for a little extra inspiration, I turned to our benevolent overlord, Google. And found the perfect idea! 

Here's my inspiration. While I came up with my own design, the joke itself was too perfect not to use. Here's the inside:

The sentiments I obviously had to make on computer, but for the top layer, I stamped and embossed the newspaper background then blended with distress oxide inks for that vintage paper colour. I covered it with a dot stencil, misted water through, and used a paper towel to soak up the extra water. The dots are very subtle but add a bit of dimension. I used a scallop edged ruler to help me tear it before putting everything together. 

Our theme also made me want to break out the Halloween goodies! 

No obvious RIP, but I thought that fence was ideal for a cemetery look. I also used a ripped mask to blend the night sky and grass, but then covered most of it up so you can't really tell. :D 

While I had my supplies out, I also made a quick and simple card using a background I'd made for another project that turned out a little too dark and spooky: 

The background was made on watercolour paper with Twinkling H2Os and plastic wrap, which makes the sparkle pool nicely. It was a simple matter to cut the panel to size, add it to a card base, and add a few dimensional stickers. 

Head to the Snarky blog to see how my sisters in snark, as well as our Queen of Snark and guest designer, Samantha, have interpreted our new challenge! Hope you will rip into your supplies and join us! 

Supplies: (paper) Neenah white cardstock, Hero Arts newspaper background stamp, Versafine onyx black, antique linen, fossilized amber & wild honey distress oxide ink, Wow clear matte dull embossing powder, Heidi Swapp polka dot stencil, Sugar Pea Designs card front element builder stencil; (spooky) Neenah white & Recollections black cardstock, STAMPlorations Boo! & Viva Las VegaStamps Jack o' Lanterns Along Fence stamps, Versafine onyx black, black soot distress & fossilized amber, faded jeans & bundled sage distress oxide inks, Wow clear matte dull embossing powder; (I.B. Dead) Neenah white cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Twinkling H2Os, K&Co stickers, MFT wonky stitched rectangle die

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ABC Christmas Challenge: P, Q and R

Yikes! Day late, but here I am for the August ABC Christmas Challenge: P, Q and R. Penguins, Quarters and Reindeer! For me, that meant two favourites and one head-scratcher. 

First up, one of the favourites: P for Penguin.

I have lots of penguin stamps to choose from, but this cool dude skier called out to me. I used a die to create a mask so I could blend a mountain sky using distress inks. Before I took the mask off, I also spritzed the sky with shimmer mist. The penguin and trees are stamped, embossed, coloured with Copics and die cut. Before I added them, I stamped and embossed the sentiment at the bottom of his ski run. And sure, I could have shaded in his slalom run down the slope, but occasionally, I know when to let well enough alone. :D 

Now for the head-scratcher, Q for Quarter. I was concerned that there was some cool technique or fancy fold I had missed out on! Once I determined that we were really talking quarters aka fourths, I came up with this: 

This quartet of Santa face stamps fit perfectly in a 4x4 inch square, which I scored to show off the "quarters". Out came the Copics again to colour these jolly old elves, along with Stickles and Nuvo drops. What better sentiment than "ho ho ho"? 

Finally, another favourite, R for Reindeer: 

I decided to go more elegant than cute for this one. I tore a sheet of notepaper and die cut a post-it note for use as masks before blending my sky in distress inks. Again I sprayed and flicked shimmer mist to add sparkle to the sky. Then I added Dasher and embossed him with sterling shimmer embossing powder. The scene seemed too serene to break up with a sentiment, so I left it alone. 

With the sponged sky, I'm adding this card to the current Jingle Belles challenge, Blue Christmas. 
Not to brag or anything, but with these three cards, I now have 27 Christmas cards ready for the busy season! Why not play along this month and build up your own stash! 

Supplies: (penguin) Neenah white & Recollections red & black cardstock, MFT Chill Wishes stamps & dies, Verafine onyx black, Catherine Pooler rockin' red & tumbled glass & broken china distress inks, Wow clear embossing powder, Copic markers, MFT scenic safari & wonky stitched rectangle dies, Tsukineko sparkle shimmer mist, Tonic Nuvo morning dew crystal drops, frosted lace Stickles, foam tape; (quarters) Neenah white & American Crafts textured red cardstock, Hero Arts Santa Faces & Gourmet Rubber Stamps Holiday Cheer stamps, Versamark & Versafine onyx black inks, Wow clear and white embossing powder, Copc markers, Tonic Nuvo morning dew crystal drops, frosted lace Stickles; (reindeer) Neenah white cardstock, Stampin' Up Dasher stamp, Colorbox silver & shaded lilac, wilted violet, faded jeans, blueprint sketch & chipped sapphire distress inks, Brutus Monroe sterling shimmer embossing powder, Tsukineko sparkle shimmer mist

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Happy Little Stampers ATC: Time

Why yes, it's TIME for another Happy Little Stampers Artist Trading Card Challenge! (The C in ATC can also stand for coin, but I haven't explored that frontier yet...) Our theme for August is time, and I had two directions to choose between - there's the whole birthday/aging theme, but I discovered that many of my time-related sentiments seemed to reference wine and drinks! So I grabbed my favourite time-related background stamp and got to work. 

As you can see, I made two different backgrounds using the same clock stamp. For the top left/bottom right, I decided to see if spray mists would work for ink smooshing the clock stamp. Since the stamp was going to be quite wet, I used watercolour paper. The first impression was very wet and therefore gave a loose impression, where the second try was a bit drier and allowed the clocks to show more. Similarly with the distress inks smooshed and stamped onto mixed media card, I got a more abstract look with the first use and slightly clearer with the second. (I also think I moved the stamp a bit on the first inking, but since it's drinks related, a little fuzziness kind of fits in anyway!) 

A quick look at each one: 

The wine glass is die cut and embossed with three coats of gold pearl embossing powder for a smooth finish. The sentiment is embossed with clear powder. 

The cocktail and umbrella are stamped, embossed, coloured with Copics and fussy cut. The sentiment is from a new MFT set - I split it in half to bracket the drink image. 

The wine bottle is a two-step stamp, so I could stamp the main part in (of course) merlot ink, then add the label and foil in gold ink before embossing. 

As the clocks were quite abstract on this section of background, I added a few extra pocket watch images to it. I was able to use the same wine glass stamp twice to get them clinking, then added the heat embossed sentiment. 
I've decided that I use way too much stuff when making ATCs to name it all in a supply list, but if you have any questions, I hope you will leave a comment and ask. I also hope you'll take some time in the next few weeks and join us! 

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Seize the Birthday: Flowers

August! How did that happen? :D At least it's a Thursday, so I can introduce the newest Seize the Birthday challenge, with the optional *topping* of ⁕FLOWERS⁕.

I chuckled when I first saw this topping, since the majority of the design team uses flowers almost all the time! Remember, if you're not in a flowery mood, we love to see any new birthday card creations. 
Here's a card that makes a statement with a single flower:  

This mondo peony is embossed in white and coloured with watercolour powder. So easy but so effective! The soft grey leaves layered with vellum are totally stolen CASEd from Emily. For a little extra interest, I dry embossed the card base with a woodgrain pattern before adding the sentiment strip to the bottom. 

I'll add this card to the current Wednesday Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp. 

I may have gotten a little carried away with the whole flower theme: 

This little clean and simple number has a rose-with-ladybug image from Paper Smooches and a sentiment from Clearly Besotted. Both are embossed with sparkly embossing powder and the ladybug has a shiny coat of Glossy Accents. 

I'm adding this card to the new Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge, Make Your Mark. 

And one more: 

This time the flower is a gerbera daisy by Uniko. I stamped the outline in black, then added both yellow and red to the solid layering stamp. I also used the outline stamp to make the banner. The grey panel keeps the look modern, I think.

I'll add this one to the Monday Simon Says Stamp challenge: Bright and Cheerful. 

There is, of course, an entire bouquet of inspiration to be found on the Seize the Birthday blog, from both the design team and our current surprise party guest, Su! Getting flowers on a birthday is always nice, so why not play along? 

       

Supplies: (peony) Neenah white & Papertrey Ink soft stone cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, vellum, Essentials by Ellen Mondo Peony stamp & die, Concord & 9th Filled in Florals & Fine Line Florals stamps and dies, Neat & Tangled Across the Card stamp, Versamark & Altenew silver lake ink, Hero Arts white embossing powder, Magenta berry watercolour powder, foam tape; (rose) Neenah white & American Crafts textured green cardstock, Paper Smooches Rosy Posy & Clearly Besotted Many Mini Messages stamps, Versafine onyx black ink, Wow clear sparkle embossing powder, Copic markers, Sugar Pea Designs card builder elements die, Glossy Accents; (daisy) Neenah white & Stampin' Up smoky slate cardstock, Uniko Gerbera & Clearly Besotted Say What stamps, Versafine onyx black, Catherine Pooler tiara, Simple Stories well red & Memento bamboo leaves inks, Wow clear embossing powder, MFT blueprints 24 dies, Recollections black half pearls, foam tape 

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